Tuesday, December 31, 2013

We are saddened at the death of former colleague, and Kennedy Detail agent, David Grant, on Dec. 28, after a long illness.

David Grant was born in Chicago, Illinois, a Korean War Veteran and graduate of Iowa Wesleyan University. In 1957, the Secret Service commissioned Special Agent Grant to work the Chicago and Denver field offices, as well as the Children's Detail for President Eisenhower.

Special Agent Grant joined the Kennedy Detail shortly after the election. SA Grant assisted SA Win Lawson with the Dallas advance and was stationed at the Trade Mart at the time of the assassination. During his career, SA Grant served Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Vice Presidents, Rockefeller, and Mondale.In 1980, David Grant retired from the Secret Service as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Vice Presidential Division. In June 1963 John F Kennedy visited the Sussex village of Forest Row for a political summit at the height of the Cold War and held talks with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. It was Kennedy's final visit to Britain. Secret Service agent David Grant was responsible for arranging security for the Sussex Summit.

Friends may visit from 12-1 pm on Thursday, January 2 with the funeral service starting at 1 pm at Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home 9902 Braddock Rd. Fairfax, VA 22032. Interment Fairfax Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his name to CapitalCaring 2900 Telestar Ct. Falls Church, VA 22042 or to a charity of yourchoice.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Colorado man, former secret service agent, remembers Kennedy

Geald Blaine was secret service agent for John F. Kennedy

DENVER — This week, the nation is remembering President John F.
Kennedy on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. But there’s one
Colorado man who can’t forget.
Gerald Blaine – or Jerry, as his friends know him – served as a
Secret Service agent in the Kennedy Detail. Wherever Kennedy went,
Blaine wasn’t far behind.

“President Kennedy was very personable, he knew all of us by name, he
knew our families,” Blaine told FOX 31 Denver. “He’d come by and tell
his latest joke. He had the best sense of humor in the world, and he
was a delight to be with, so as far as we were concerned, it was like
losing a member of your family.”

As fate would have it, Blaine had left the president’s side the
morning of November 22, 1963. He’d gone ahead to Austin, the
president’s next planned stop. He couldn’t be there to try and save
JFK. And Jerry’s friends who were there, had a tough time forgiving
themselves.

“There are very few jobs you can be a 100 percent failure at. And
being an agent on the Kennedy detail, you were a 100 percent failure,”
Blaine said.

That one day in November, and the days following, have in many ways defined Jerry’s entire life.
Three years ago, he wrote a book called “The Kennedy Detail,” explaining what all the agents went through. They were dark days. Just ask his wife.

“There was nothing said, you didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know
what to say, and you were processing, could this have really happened?”
said Joyce Blaine.

Immediately after the assassination, Blaine was assigned to protect
the new President, Lyndon Johnson. And that’s when Jerry himself nearly
rewrote history. Listen to this: he was outside Johnson’s private
residence, standing guard in the middle of the night, and after three
sleepless days, he was dazed, and nearly shot the brand new President.

“So I heard a noise and I picked up the Thompson submachine gun,
activated it, put it to my shoulder, and around the corner of the house
came the new President, so I recognized his profile, he looked at me,
and it was dark, but i swear he turned white,” Blaine said.

Blaine is 81 years old and retired now, and lives in Grand Junction.
But he still travels around and occasionally gives speeches about the
assassination, and he still stays in touch with the few agents who are
still alive from back then.

“Unfortunately there aren’t too many of them left, so it gets a little lonely,” Blaine said.
It was a long time ago. But it seems like only yesterday, when you
were part of history, and still relive it nearly every single day.

Of course, we asked Jerry about the various conspiracy theories
surrounding the assassination. He says he doesn’t believe any of them –
and he’s 100 percent convinced, Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone killer.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – His job was to protect the President of the United States. Fifty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, it is a job that still haunts Secret Service Special Agent Winston Lawson to this day.

“You knew it was an important job. You couldn’t let it get to you too much,” Lawson said in his first television interview since the assassination.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The PowerPoint presentation will be followed with a question-and-answer period as well as a book signing.

To RSVP for the Aug. 19 event, please email
hrhistoricalsociety@comcast.net. The event is free for members, but a
suggested donation of $1 is requested for non-members. Light
refreshments will be served beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Jerry Blaine has been a lot of things in his life — a sailor, a student, and a Secret Service agent assigned to three U.S. presidents, including John F. Kennedy.

It’s the three years he spent with Kennedy that were documented in his New York Times best-seller “The Kennedy Detail,” and in the upcoming film due out in 2014.

The 1950 Englewood High School graduate and Korean War veteran has spent a lot of time discussing his book since it was released in 2010, but says he has just one presentation left in him.

Because of his local roots, he will give that presentation to the Highlands Ranch Historical Society at 7 p.m. Aug. 19 at Southridge Recreation Center, 4800 McArthur Ranch Road in Highlands Ranch. The PowerPoint presentation will be followed with a question-and-answer period as well as a book signing.

The talk, he said, will focus on the difference — from the Secret Service perspective — of the Eisenhower presidency and the Kennedy presidency, the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, and the personal relationship he developed with the Kennedy family. He will also talk about the differences in the Secret Service between then and now.

Blaine, who was hired by the service in 1959 after earning a business degree from the University of Colorado, was the first agent assigned to the Kennedy detail and joined the president-elect in Palm Beach, Fla., the day after the 1960 election.

“Being the first agent on regular detail with him, I had quite a bit of interaction with him. I had a lot more after he hit me in the head with a golf ball,” he said. “If he wasn’t tied up in the affairs of state, he would stop by the post and shoot the breeze. He was very personal that way.”

And while Kennedy was extremely personal with Blaine and the other agents, one thing Blaine won’t discuss in the presentation and does not address in his book is the personal affairs of the president — something that has been heavily documented, and not all of which Blaine says is anywhere near close to the truth.

“A lot of it is exaggerated, including the Marilyn Monroe thing, which is blown way out of proportion,” he said. “It didn’t define the Kennedy administration.”

While some of what may be holding Blaine back is an unwritten code between agents never to discuss First Family matters openly, he said he was compelled to write the book a few years back after “the conspiracy theorists began to kidnap history.”

“It was time to put together the facts of what happened. That’s why I wrote the book,” he said. “We knew from the day after Kennedy was elected we were working under a different circumstance than we were working under with Eisenhower.”

Blaine, who saw the president for the last time when he left Fort Worth for Dallas the day he was shot, will address the assassination, and said he is happy to answer questions surrounding all of the theories that have circled it for the last 50 years.

“We were always concerned about a sniper, because he was so vulnerable,” Blaine said. “He was so unpredictable he was predictable as far as going into crowds, and he loved the open-top limousine in parade situations. ... It was very difficult to stomach.”

To RSVP for the Aug. 19 event, please email hrhistoricalsociety@comcast.net. The event is free for members, but a suggested donation of $1 is requested for non-members. Light refreshments will be served beginning at 6:30 p.m.. The event is from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Perhaps no single event has had a greater impact on the United States, since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, than the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Our entire Nation and indeed much of the World went into a state of shock and deep sorrow. All Americans who are old enough to have a personal memory of this traumatic event can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when the startling news flashes started coming from Dallas about shots being fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade as it traveled through Dallas.

My personal experience was a life changing event. I was a 1st. Lieutenant and aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps at the time and on November 22nd I was flying a VIP mission transporting a Marine General from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to Paris Island, South Carolina. As we were cruising down the Carolina coast line it was a beautiful cloudless day and I had the H-34 on cruise control at 5,000 feet taking in the beautiful view as we headed south toward the Marine Recruit Depot. As the flight was smooth and I had the Tacan navigation system tracking to the Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort, S.C. close by the Recruit Depot. As was my usual practice during VIP flights I tuned in a local radio station for any news or weather that might affect the flight. I was immediately drawn to CBS News breaking into a local broadcast with the startling announcement that there was a news flash from Dallas.

As I knew that the President was in Dallas this announcement was immediate concern in my mind. I alerted the general that there was breaking news from Dallas involving the President. I was totally focused on the information coming from Dallas. I will never forget the extremely distressed voice of Walter Cronkite announcing that President Kennedy was dead. The remainder of the flight and return to New River MCAS are a blind spot to me.

I felt a deep sense of personal loss as President Kennedy was my Commander in Chief and barely a year before had saved our country from war with the Soviet Union and Cuba; a war in which I would have been one of the first causalities as I was slated to pilot the second aircraft to takeout a Russian missile site in Cuba. As I sat in the cockpit with a squad of combat ready Marines below me we all knew that this was likely a one way mission. The missile sites were heavily defended by Russian Spetsnaz, Special Forces units, and they would be on full alert for our airborne assault. The Captain of our ship, the assault carrier USS Okinawa, put an urgent announcement by President Kennedy on the ships speaker system. Every ear onboard was silently listening to the President’s every word; when he said that the Russians had agreed to withdraw their nuclear missiles from Cuba and that our blockade would be lifted there was a tremendous shout of joy and relief from every hand on board. Our Commander in Chief had saved our lives and likely protected our families at home from a nuclear war. From that point on President Kennedy was my personal hero.

I watched television with my wife Sharon and our two young sons on Sunday morning November 24th as the sad and solemn procession paraded up Pennsylvania Ave from the White House to the Capitol Rotunda. We were choked with grief and tears streamed down our faces as young John-John Kennedy saluted the Military Caisson bearing his father’s flag draped coffin passed, by. This was one of the saddest times in my life. Suddenly a flash bulletin came on from Dallas announcing that the Dallas Police were about to move Lee Harvey Oswald from the city lockup to the Dallas County Jail. I wanted to see this former disgraced Marine traitor and assassin so we intently watched as TV cameras in the basement of the police station showed Oswald being lead out of the basement door to a van for transport to the jail. I was focused on Oswald’s face as I suddenly saw a fast movement in the surrounding crowd. I saw a flash and heard a gunshot as Oswald bent forward grabbing his stomach. I yelled to Sharon, Oswald’s been shot. The chaos that followed led to further dismay and confusion on our part as the television coverage switched back and forth from Washington and Dallas. We soon learned that Oswald had died at Parkland Hospital, the same hospital where President Kennedy had been treated and pronounced dead, and that a Dallas night club owner named Jack Ruby had been arrested in the murder of Oswald.

I returned to duty on Monday as the Assistant Group Legal Assistance Officer and JAG investigator. All of the discussions at work were about the President’s assassination and the rogue ex-Marine named Oswald who had allegedly killed the President. I learned that Oswald had been a radar technician and was stationed in California and the Pacific before he had been given a hardship discharge and shortly thereafter gone to Russia. I was surprised when two FBI agents showed up in my office on Tuesday morning and made a request for assistance in locating any of our MAG-26 Marines who may have known or worked with Oswald when he was in service. The senior agent was named Joe Pearson and he told me the FBI had been ordered to conduct a full investigation of the President’s assassination and that everything that any of our Marines knew about Oswald was needed. I told him that I was sure that we could assist but that I needed to get the Group commander’s approval. I quickly went down the hall and informed the C.O. about the request; he responded, “Give them anything they need to help in the investigation”. I returned to speak with the agents and asked agent Pearson what we could do to help. He wanted to identify every Marine in our Group who had ever known or worked with Oswald and to interview separately each of these individuals. As our Group had over 2,000 Marines this was not an easy task, but we began the process of identifying our Marines who had any knowledge of Oswald.

Working with the FBI agents who were actually investigating the assassination of the President was a catharsis for me and helped me overcome my personal grief from the President’s death. Over about a two week period I worked with Agent Pearson and we developed a personal friendship. He couldn’t discuss the FBI’s overall investigation with me but he was able to keep me posted on the publicly known information. We began having lunches together and would go down to the Station’s pistol range and fire off surplus ammo that was slated for disposal. I held the Marine Corps Pistol Expert Badge, but Pearson showed me the FBI’s draw and shoot method of firearms defense and I enjoyed our personal rapport.

I had just been selected for promotion to Captain and had to make a decision about staying in the Corps for a career or being discharged to the Reserves and looking for a civilian career. I was leaning on staying in the Corps but the constant deployment away from Sharon and our two sons was weighing on my mind and I had to consider other alternatives as well. Joe then surprised me with statement, “Buck, why don’t you consider a career as a Special Agent with the FBI”? I was surprised to learn that my Bachelor’s degree and four years as a Marine officer qualified me to apply for the FBI Special Agent position. On November 16, 1964 I was sworn in as a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; almost exactly one year after President Kennedy was killed.

I continued to follow the Kennedy assassination case through the Warren Commission Report (WCR) and as much of the media reporting as I could find, but I had no personal involvement until I was promoted to a supervisory position in the Organized Crime Section at FBI Headquarters in January of 1971. Upon arrival at FBIHQ I had an obligatory meeting with Director J. Edgar Hoover. I expected a routine handshake and admonition to do a good job; however, Hoover surprised me by asking me to sit down and engaging in a very wide ranging discussion. It started with a discussion of the rapid progress that we were making against the La Cosa Nostra (LCN-the American Mafia). Hoover was genuinely pleased with the progress the Bureau was making against the LCN and congratulated me on the success that I had in making several significant cases in Philadelphia. He then surprised me with a statement that he had had to personally warn President Kennedy against carrying on a personal relationship with Judith Campbell paramour of Sam Giancana, the boss of the Chicago LCN family. Hoover stated that President Kennedy just nodded and said nothing further about the information. Hoover said that he admired President Kennedy and was a friend of his father, Joe Kennedy, but that he had no respect or regard for Bobby Kennedy who he regarded as a novice and unprofessional politician who wasn’t qualified to be Attorney General. The conversation lasted about three hours and covered many more subjects, but the revelation about President Kennedy was the most startling part of the conversation for me.

My next real involvement in the Kennedy assassination case came when I had returned to FBI Headquarters from Chicago where I was the senior Assistant Special Agent in Charge and for five months the Acting SAC. I had been promoted to the rank of Inspector and was assigned to the Director’s office as the Executive Assistant to the Associate Director (then the second in command of the Bureau) and as Chairman of the FBI’s Career Promotion Board. I had daily contact with Director Clarence Kelley and was consulted on major policy decisions. It was during this time that the House of Representatives created a Special Committee to investigate the assassinations of President Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King. The Assassinations Committee appointed former Justice Department Attorney G. Robert Blakey as its chief counsel. Bob Blakey was and is a personal friend who I had worked with when I was in the Organized Crime Section. I found him to be a dedicated and capable attorney and expert on organized crime law. But Blakey had decided that the FBI and Warren Commission were wrong in finding that Oswald acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy. He based his belief that there was a forth shot fired from the grassy knoll of the Texas Book Depository and therefore there had to be a second assassin and a conspiracy. When the Committee on Assassination’s final report came out I had been out of FBI Headquarters as SAC of the Oklahoma Division and promoted back to FBIHQ as the Assistant Director in charge of the Criminal Investigation Division. Judge William Webster was now the Director and I advised him to seek an outside of the Bureau review of the Committee’s findings of a forth shot. I strongly believed that the Committee’s findings were in error, but was convinced that only an outside organization with impeccable credentials could settle the dispute between the FBI’s technical acoustics experts and the experts hired by the Committee. Webster and the Attorney General agreed with me and the AG asked the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a totally independent review and analysis of the sounds recorded at the scene and time of the assassination. The National Academy of Science’s report agreed with the findings of the FBI’s Technical Services Division that the first three sounds were gunshots from the vicinity of the Texas Book Depository building and the fourth sound was a motorcycle backfire from at least two blocks away and at a time when the President’s motorcade had already gone into the railroad underpass in route to Parkland Hospital. That finding took away the House Committee’s only “evidence” of a conspiracy and they had already concluded that Oswald was the shooter from the 6th floor of the Book Depository.

One of the frequent criticisms of the FBI Investigation and the WC was that both had only focused on Lee Harvey Oswald as the sole assassin of President Kennedy. The facts are very different; as of April of 1965 the FBI had submitted 18 reports containing 6,378 pages of investigative information on Oswald and all of his activities and alleged connections, but the investigation didn’t stop there, As of August 1965 the FBI had submitted 13 reports containing 3,070 pages on the investigation of other possible suspects including the Mafia, Cuba, the Soviet Union, corrupt politicians and big business interests. All of these reports went to the Warren Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In May of 1991 after the conclusion of the first Iraqi War (Desert Strom) I had been in Washington for 12 years and for 6 of those years I had direction and oversight responsibility for all FBI investigative and intelligence operations and programs. I was tired of Washington and all of its bickering and hypocrisy, especially from the national news media and the badly dysfunctional Congress. I was eligible to retire but I still had the urge to serve my country and the drive to do so. I proposed to FBI Director Bill Sessions and Attorney General Dick Thornburgh that I would postpone my retirement by at least 3 years if they would approve a transfer for me to head up one of the Field Divisions in the Southwest. Both indicated that they wanted me to continue my career in the Bureau and not long thereafter Sessions offered me the position of Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Dallas Division. I jumped at the opportunity; the Dallas Division covers the Northern half of Texas and has always been one of the most active and productive offices in the Bureau. Most of my family lived in Texas and Oklahoma and I had many friends in the area. Dallas was also still the Office of Origin of the Kennedy Assassination case, but I didn’t expect any activity in that area as it had been so thoroughly investigated in the previous 28 years. I was wrong!

In 1991, Oliver Stone, released his motion picture “JFK”. The movie and its story line were almost entirely fictional, but it got a tremendous amount of publicity and caused the public to once again raise questions about the findings of the Warren Commission. Again, conspiracy theorists were coming out of the woodwork, bellowing their demands that the government come clean with what it knew. Now that I was SAC of Dallas, the very city of the assassination, I would unavoidably be at the center of the cacophony.

Upon the movie’s release, the Dallas Police Department was immediately inundated by a huge number of requests for access to their files. To accommodate the requests, the police moved the files from the department to the Dallas City Archives. In the process, they came across a surprise; several folders had slipped down in the filing cabinet and were not properly indexed or filed. One of the folders was a file on the Dallas Police Department’s brief interrogation of three individuals, “the three hoboes”.

In the years since the President’s assassination, wild theories had grown up around these men. Some claimed they were CIA agents or operatives; others said two of them had been identified as E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy of Watergate infamy. With the discovery of the missing files, the theories only gained more exposure, as the disappearance was said to be part of the government cover-up.

Fortunately the true identities of the men are duller than many conspiracy theorists have hoped.

The three hoboes were part of the eyewitness documentation to the Kennedy case, as they had been seen walking across the railroad track near Dealey Plaza soon after the three shots from Oswald’s rifle were fired on November 22, 1963. Hearing of these men from eyewitnesses, police promptly went in search of them. They were found a short time later, taken into custody, briefly interrogated at the Dallas police station, and then released. When their interrogation report disappeared, they became part of the mystery surrounding the assassination. Come to find out, the three men had come over on the rails from Fort Worth earlier that morning, were fed and cleaned up at a nearby soup kitchen, and were heading back across the railroad switchyard when they heard the shots and the ensuing commotion in Dealey Plaza. Because they didn’t want to get caught up in any trouble, they hurried to get out of the area, but were intercepted by the police.

Shortly after the hoboes’ interrogation, Dallas police took Lee Harvey Oswald into custody at the Texas Theater in Oak Cliff, east of downtown Dallas. With the information available to them at the time, it looked as if they had their man. Officer J.D. Tippit had been shot and killed just a few blocks away, and Oswald was found with a pistol in his possession that was believed to have fired the fatal shots. At this point, the police shifted their attention to this strange character named Oswald and released the three hoboes. It would be more than a quarter century before law enforcement found any reason to look for or talk to them again.

During those years the police had no record of the men, as the files had apparently disappeared. Now in 1991, with the transfer of the files, they were found. Many conspiracy theorists believed the files had been destroyed, which made their reappearance still more ominous. But it was plainly shown in the files that the three hoboes had been identified, questioned and then released once it became clear that they had no information concerning the death of President Kennedy.

I knew conspiracy theorists would not be satisfied with this. Based on the new details in the lost folders, I directed that a search to find the men be initiated. In a short time we found that two were still living and one had died. We interviewed the two survivors, one of whom lived in Oregon and the other in Tampa, Florida. Since that November day, both men had done fairly well in life, having left their transient phase behind. One had gone back to work, while the other received disability from the Veterans Administration. When we interviewed them (the first and only time they had spoken with the FBI), they told us exactly what they had seen and heard but they had no more or less to tell us than they had told the Dallas police twenty-seven years earlier.

The only good this foray into the investigation of President Kennedy’s death did was to remove another element from the wild theories that were now epidemic. In the process, however, the public would become needlessly cynical about their government and its motives. The American people were being told by irresponsible parties, inflamed in this instance by Oliver Stone’s purely fictional conspiracy scenario, to believe dark, unseen forces were at work behind the scenes of their polity. Invisible evil geniuses had control of this puppet democracy; they had slain President Kennedy and were now hiding their nefarious deed. I came to call this phenomenon “the Oliver Stoning of America”, the belief that the government, or at least some of its agencies, are behind every unfortunate event.

Theories of this ilk were devoid of credible, evidence and downright acrobatic in making known historical facts comply with their particular design. But what they lacked in validity they more than made up for in sheer number. Requests were constantly submitted to the Dallas FBI office to respond to “new evidence” that inevitably turned out to be irrelevant or fraudulent. Tremendous pressure was also exerted to expedite the release of FBI documents on the case. Being the principal repository of the investigative files, the Dallas FBI office had an incredible forty-two linear feet of files on the Kennedy assassination. Finally, Headquarters called and said they wanted them in Washington as they were going to photocopy them all and then send the originals to the National Archives. So I had my people pack them up. We rented a U-Haul and I assigned senior agent, Bill Teigen, and two support employees to drive the files under armed guard to FBI Headquarters. None of this, however, would do anything to mute the controversy over the case. It would just go on and on.

A new controversy developed over a hoodlum with alleged connections to organized crime in Chicago who said he had information concerning the mob’s roll in the murder, and that he had been one of the assassins. In response, I ordered a thorough review of his background and a detailed interview by agents experienced in Chicago organized crime, only to discover the man had no new or even pertinent information. The alleged assassin’s story was completely concocted. However, Don Hewitt, Executive Producer of 60 Minutes, became interested in this one and called me several times about information he had received. In the end I convinced Hewitt that this was not the story of the century but just another hoax by people who had their own agenda.

Later, Charles Crenshaw, a doctor who had been at Parkland Hospital on November 22, 1963, and had looked over the shoulder of attending physicians, came out with a book claiming the autopsy of Kennedy’s body had been manipulated. Though he hadn’t examined Kennedy’s body and had only seen it for a few seconds, he had been convinced by one of the frequent contributors to the conspiracy milieu, J. Gary Shaw, to coauthor a book some thirty years later that made fantastic claims of a cover-up. Nevertheless, we interviewed Dr. Crenshaw only to find he had grossly exaggerated his claims and had little idea of what his coauthor had actually written. Out interview with him varied little from the one he had given the FBI some thirty years earlier.

If this were not enough, we also had the revelation of an eight millimeter movie that had been taken in Dealey Plaza five minutes before the assassination. People now swore they could see assassins in the windows of surrounding buildings. And the wild claims continued to mount.

In the face of all this, I gave several interviews to the press stating my firm belief that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin in Dallas that day and that he had acted alone. The physical and testimonial evidence was clear and conclusive. This, of course, turned out to be little avail, as you can never prove a negative, that there was no conspiracy. All I could say was that there was no credible evidence of a conspiracy. Keeping the investigation open took enormous resources and a lot of my time, but no case was more important in the annals of American History, so I wanted us to answer as many questions as we could. I kept it under my direct supervision, assigning leads to our principal legal advisers, Special Agents Gary Gerszewski and Jay Gregory. We thoroughly checked out new information that could possibly shed light on unknown factors in the case. This was necessary, as the assassination would remain a divisive issue in American society, and there was no end in sight.

In June of 1993, I received the sad news that Governor John Connally had passed away. The Governor and his wife had been in the car with the President and First Lady on the day of the assassination. Governor Connally had been critically wounded by Oswald’s second shot. This bullet, which erroneously came to be known as the “pristine bullet” was the pivot on which the cases of many conspiracy theorists, who knew little or nothing about ballistics, turned. For the remainder of his life, the Governor had carried tiny fragments of this bullet that had passed through the President’s back and neck. After passing through the Governor’s chest as well, it impacted his wrist then got caught in his clothes. It was then found on the Governor’s stretcher at Parkland Hospital (many would find this explanation for the discovery of the bullet fraught with clues to a cover-up.

Shortly after Governor Connally’s death, I began receiving calls from the media asking me what I was going to do about his body. In the beginning this was puzzling. Why should I do anything? But to my amazement, Attorney General Janet Reno said it was up to the SAC of the Dallas FBI office as to whether there would be a request for an autopsy to remove the lead. It was my call.

In response, I contacted Headquarters. I hadn’t been told by anybody it was my call to make the request but they checked with the Attorney General and sure enough she had made the statement.

“So what are you going to do?” they asked. Under the circumstances, I told them I was going to leave it up to the family. I knew what the Attorney General’s thinking was; the lead from the jacketed bullet was known to be in Connelly’s wrist and therefore it would forever remain an issue. This was now a real dilemma. As the jacketed bullet had passed through the bodies, it lost a small amount of its mass. This, by itself, raised suspicions that were not likely to go away anytime soon.

Having experienced the absolute cacophony of howls raised by conspiracy theorists, I was concerned. They had demanded and received access to all these files (I favored their release except where it would reveal intelligence sources and methods); they had successfully lobbied to have Oswald’s body exhumed. I now worried that they might one day demand the same of the Governor’s body in the ridiculous quest of retrieving the minute metal shavings of the now famous pristine bullet from his right wrist. To avert what I saw as an unnecessary travesty, I requested that the Attorney General suggest to the Governor’s wife that it might be better in the long run to remove the bullet fragments. It wasn’t going to add meaningfully to the mass of forensic evidence, but it would help close off this seemingly endless investigation.

After I made the recommendation to the Attorney General, the media went to Millie Connally and told her that the FBI chief in Dallas had said that there ought to be an autopsy to retrieve fragments. Upon hearing this, she was apparently beside herself. They were in the midst of grieving over their loss and thought that this was some kind of grandstand play on the part of the FBI. My heart went out to the family but all I could do was explain my thinking. I certainly wasn’t going to seek a court order to have an autopsy done. However, this would help put the issue to rest and work toward completing the historical record. In the end the family was vehemently against an autopsy, and so far as I was concerned, their wishes came before those of the people who wanted access to this relatively insignificant piece of the Kennedy assassination puzzle.

During all of this, I was fortunate to have access not only to the extensive files in the Dallas office, but to several former agents who had actually conducted the original investigation. Chief among them was Bob Gemberling. Bob had never written a book about his experience as the lead FBI agent investigating the Kennedy assassination in Dallas, but he had lectured on the subject (without charge) to responsible groups. I asked him to discuss the investigation for the Dallas Rotary Club and he held the audience in rapt attention as he wove together the airtight case that Oswald was the assassin. As new allegations came pouring in, Bob was always willing to discuss his recollections with me, but he always said, “Well, you need to check it out. The FBI can’t leave any loose ends on this one.”

And we didn’t. My secretary, Nancy Collins, had actually typed the original investigative report from the Dallas office. At the time she was just out of high school but was one of the most proficient stenographers in the office. Although Nancy remembered few of the details of the investigation, she did recall who had conducted each critical phase. Gemberling and Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles, a sergeant in the Dallas PD at the time of the assassination, provided insight into the claim by two Dallas area television documentary producers that Oswald had a cellmate in the Dallas PD jail. His cellmate, they said, had important information that the FBI had “suppressed”. For reasons that I couldn’t decipher, the Washington Post decided to give these two a huge spread before the publication of their book. I usually didn’t respond to these articles, but this one named me personally and disparaged the investigations we were conducting. I wrote a rather lengthy rebuttal and the Post published it. Then the paper turned around and gave the authors still more space for their own interpretation of the evidence. I didn’t bother to respond this time, but when I asked a friend at the Post why they were giving this bogus story so much play, he said a senior editor believed the Kennedy assassination was a conspiracy and thought stories such as this one would keep the controversy alive. “The case is already very much alive,” I said with utter incredulity. “It doesn’t need hype to stay that way.”

I certainly wished that I could have found even one scintilla of evidence that the worst political crime in our nation’s history was a conspiracy. Such a revelation would have made me the most celebrated detective since Sherlock Holmes. But I was trained to follow the evidence and in the case of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, that evidence clearly and overwhelmingly points to Lee Harvey Oswald as the assassin.

Perhaps the most disturbing facts to have come to light since the Warren Commission Report involved the CIA. Apparently the agency withheld information on its involvement in plots to assassinate Fidel Castro and its dealings with certain organized crime figures in order to accomplish that goal. Also withheld was information of a note delivered to the Dallas FBI office by Lee Harvey Oswald. The FBI didn’t withhold this information as it was never reported by Special Agent Jim Hosty, the case agent on Oswald before the assassination, who first received it. He had never actually met Oswald until after the assassination, but he was making inquiries about him and his Russian wife, Marina. On November 12, 1963, Oswald delivered a note to the Dallas FBI office warning Hosty to stay away from Marina. According to Hosty, the note said in effect: “If you want to talk to me, you should talk to me to my face. Stop harassing my wife and stop trying to ask her about me. You have no right to harass her.”

In an act of inexplicable stupidity and possible criminality, Hosty later destroyed the note and didn’t report it to the Warren Commission or to FBI Headquarters. Hosty claimed his SAC, Gordon Shanklin, told him to destroy the note because Hoover would “second guess us”.

I knew Jim Hosty from my days in Kansas City just a year after the Kennedy assassination. He’s an intelligent man and was a dedicated agent but he surely knew that he couldn’t be ordered to destroy evidence. Even if Shanklin told him to do so, which Shanklin later denied, Jim knew that he could not legally or morally do so. This duplicity on the part of Hosty and perhaps others would cost the FBI much of its credibility in the case. Thousands of hours working around the clock by hundreds of other dedicated agents and support staff would forever be marred by the actions of very few.

The assassination of President Kennedy revealed a major flaw in Federal Law which led to some difficulties in the investigation of this horrendous crime. To the total surprise of authorities at all levels the assault or killing of the President of the United States was not a Federal crime. Therefore the Dallas Police Department took the lead after some argument with the DPD. The U.S. Attorney in Dallas, Barefoot Sanders, settled the dispute and advised the Secret Service, the DPD and Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade that this case was only covered by Texas State law. Chief Jessie Curry firmly took charge of the investigation and assigned the head of the homicide Bureau, Captain Will Fritz, to supervise the investigation. After the murder of President Kennedy Dallas police were checking on the location of all known employees of the Texas Book Depository; Officer J.D. Tippit was dispatched to locate and interview an employee named Lee Harvey Oswald at Oswald’s Oak Cliff apartment. Upon Tippit’s arrival he got out of his patrol car and saw an individual coming from Oswald’s apartment who matched the broadcast discretion of the unknown suspect in the President’s assassination. As Tippit approached this person, who turned out to be Lee Harvey Oswald, Oswald drew a pistol and fatally shot Tippit with four shots from his revolver. Witnesses helped the police trace Oswald’s flight to the Texas Theater where he was arrested by DPD officers after a brief struggle. Oswald was taken to the DPD headquarters where he was taken to Captain Fritz’s office. Fritz allowed the Secret Service and FBI agent’s to interview Oswald in his office, but he was always present during the interviews.

When agent Jim Hosty discussed Oswald with Lt. Jack Revill, Chief of DPD Intelligence he told Revill that the Bureau had a file on Oswald due to his defection to the Soviet Union and his proclaimed Marxist beliefs. A significant deviation in the recollection of Hosty and Revill occurred at this point; Revill claimed that Hosty told him that Oswald posed a threat to the President. Hosty vehemently denied making such a statement and pointed out that the Bureau had no information that Oswald was violent or posed a threat to the President. Chief Curry, later at a press conference facing great criticism for the death of Oswald while he was in DPD custody, accused the Bureau of withholding information from the DPD that Oswald was in Dallas and posed a threat to the President. This statement infuriated Hoover who ordered all cooperation with the DPD to halt. As President Johnson had ordered the FBI to take over the investigation and to take custody of all the evidence this created a very difficult dilemma for both agencies. Henry Wade, the long time and highly respected, District Attorney of Dallas County happened to be a former FBI agent and friend of Hoover’s. Wade acted as a go between and facilitator for both agencies and the working level officers and agent’s continued to do their duties and find ways to cooperate.

The evidence that Oswald acted alone in the assassination of the President is clear and compelling, but you can never prove a negative. What we do know about Oswald’s background leads to the deadly encounter on Dealy Plaza. Oswald’s father died before he was born so he came from a broken family. At age 13 he was diagnosed to have schizophrenic tendencies and to be emotionally disturbed. He never received treatment and dropped out of High School. He was able to join the Marine Corps where he was trained as a radar technician, but never fit into the life of service required of a Marine. He received marksmanship training and earned the Sharpshooter badge with the M-1 rifle. He served in the Pacific and received several remands for lack of discipline and disorderly conduct. He was granted a hardship discharge in 1958 and returned to the Fort Worth area to reconnect with his mother. In 1959 he went to the Soviet Union and declared his intention to defect to the USSR. He married a Russian girl and held low level positions that disappointed his ambitions. In June of 1962 he returned to the United States bringing with him his Russian wife Marina. In March of 1963 he ordered a 6.5 MM Carcano Italian rifle with a 10 power scope from a mail order house in Chicago using the alias of A.J. Hidell. On April 10th this rifle was used by Oswald in attempt to assassinate retired Army Major General Edwin Walker. Walker was widely known for his outspoken anti-Castro views after the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile crises. Oswald went to Mexico City after the attack on General Walker and visited both the Russian and Cuban Embassies. He was also seen demonstrating in New Orleans with the “Fair Play for Cuba” organization.

The case agent for the FBI investigation, Bob Gemberling, stated that he thought Oswald’s motive was to gain recognition. I think that was part of Oswald’s motivation, but I believe that his ultimate goal was to escape to Cuba and be recognized as a “Hero of the Cuban Revolution”. Instead he will always be known as one of the most despicable men to have ever been a citizen of the United States.

Buck Revell was a former Assistant FBI director in Washington and the local director of the Dallas office.Mr. Revell is the founder and President of Revell Group International, Inc., a global business and security-consulting firm, based in Rowlett, Dallas County, Texas. He also serves as Executive V.P. of Rogue DNA, Inc, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

Friday, May 31, 2013

Two weeks ago, Chuck Zboril , and I were interviewed for a documentary being produced by the PBS for the Tampa area. The subject is President Kennedy's trip to Tampa four days before his assassination. The documentary should be excellent and is a very positive one endorsed by the past and present mayor. PBS is very appreciative of our appearance.The last two days have been very busy. A TV Crew from Berlin, Germany flew into Grand Junction to interview me regarding the Kennedy administration. You may recall back in January 2013, Joyce and I flew to Washington DC to participate in a
documentary about President Kennedy's visit to Germany in June, 1963. The
documentary focused specifically on his visit to Berlin. Win Lawson and I are the two surviving agents who made that trip. Win did the advance and I was in the motorcade. The trip to Berlin was undoubtedly the highlight of President Kennedy's administration. This second documentary will focus on President Kennedy and his administration. The documentary is being produced by ARD German Television.

Friday, March 15, 2013

For Noise and Notes, Blaine sat down to discuss what it's like to protect a U.S. President, how the agency changed after the assassination, and the American public gravitated towards conspiracy theories in the decades after.

Former U.S. Secret Service Agent Gerald Blaine has spent his life thinking about security. In his book "The Kennedy Detail" co-authored with journalist Lisa McCubbin, Blaine chronicles his time protecting former President John F. Kennedy up until the assassination in Dallas. It also looks at how the shooting was traumatic for Blaine's fellow agents and how each dealt with the president's death differently. The book has been the subject of 2011 documentary and is set to be a feature film to be filmed in New Orleans

Thursday, March 14, 2013

REMEMBERING JACK: Former Secret Service agent talks to students about Kennedy’s assassination, ripple effects

By JEROD CLAPP jerod.clapp@newsandtribune.com

CHARLESTOWN — While waiting for him to arrive in Austin, Texas, Jerry Blaine got word that the man he’d been assigned to protect was killed in Dallas.

Blaine — a former Secret Service agent who was on protection detail for three presidents, including John F. Kennedy — talked to students at Charlestown High School about his time on the service and the repercussions Kennedy’s death had on the United States.

Bill Halter attended the talk and said the day Kennedy was shot sticks out in his memory, even though it seemed like forever ago to the students in the crowd.

“It’s ancient history to them, but I can vividly remember being in class and a girl burst into class telling us the president had been shot,” Halter said. “It shocked us all.”

Blaine talked to students about his experience as written in his book, “The Kennedy Detail.”

But as conspiracy theories about the assassination still circulate 50 years later, Blaine said he and his fellow agents discount the notion of a second shooter from a grassy knoll that day.

“This story needs to be told and the only answers [about that day] that are reliable are from the agents who were there,” Blaine said. “We wrote the book to make sure the conspiracy theorists didn’t kidnap history.”

He said Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy’s assassin, acted alone in firing all three shots by himself. But he said in a broader perspective, tragedies like that are likely to happen again and have become more frequent, partly because of larger population in the United States.

Dr. Tim McDonald, an Advanced Placement government teacher at New Washington High School, said he helped set up Blaine’s visit to schools across the district. He said with today’s generation of students so far removed from the events, he wanted to make sure they understood what the assassination meant for America.

“I think it’s a vital part of history,” McDonald said. “It’s at least close enough in recent history with the Kennedy assassination, so to have them talk to someone who was there with Kennedy, it brings the presidency down to their level.”

Blaine said the country was beginning to see a lot of change during Kennedy’s presidency, including key moments of the civil rights movement. Though dissension began to take root after Kennedy’s death, Blaine said he hopes he can reach students and assure them that in spite of conspiracy theories and dangers, they can trust lawmakers and others.

“There were a number of things that happened that just added divisiveness in the country,” Blaine said. “I like to talk to young people who don’t know, who may have heard it from their parents, so that they might trust the government.”

Friday, February 15, 2013

From an ex-navy seal who worked for me to some of our mutual friends -- many of whom also worked for me in Algeria protecting our oil facilities and personnel during the fundamentalist war of the late 90's.. I did my frog time in Korea, before the group converted to the awesome special forces group they are today. Steve ended up as a master chief before he retired.To All,

Background, as I was nearing the end of my Military Career I had the fortune to meet Mr. Gerald Blaine on one of my stops through Dallas. From our initial meeting I was able to later hire on with ARCO at their oil facility in the Sahara Desert of Algeria. Jerry as we know him was a great leader and wonderful mentor. Our connection was that we had both served as Navy Frogmen, Jerry also served our country as a Secret Service Agent starting with Ike and was on the 'Kennedy Detail' before heading off to the corporate world.

I still consider him as one of the finest Gents I've had the pleasure knowing.

We recently reunited by phone, and he told me about this book he recently authored, 'The Kennedy Detail' not only is the book out and doing quite well, but Hollywood is knocking at the door.

I've ordered my copies today at the web site listed below.

Several on this email list also worked for Jerry and some have served as Secret Service, I did cc Jerry on this in case any of you wish to reply to him directly.

You are fortunate to know Agent Blaine. I know you will enjoy his book. It is well written and helps in understanding what happened that day in Texas. It tells in great detail the story of a group of men who did their jobs. Those men did not fail, but evil took the upper hand that day. It may be the only day of my life that I remember so clearly. Agent Blaine brought it all back to me in a way that I could understand. Pat got me the book a couple of years ago for Christmas. It is one of those books that you can't put down. I was in college and working for a newspaper when President Kennedy was killed. Like all of us who are old enough to remember, I remember exactly where I was. I was at work and in the "teletype" room when bells went off like I'd never heard before. One line, "President Kennedy is dead."

Agent Blaine,

If I might be so bold I want to thank you for your service and for writing the book. It took me back to a time of fear, disbelief, anger, but most of all sadness and tears. I can only imagine how you must have suffered. You brought back a moment in American history that was very confusing and enabled me to finally understand what happened and to accept what it meant for me and for America.. When I finished the book I really wanted to thank you and to shake your hand. Thanks to Steve, at least now I can thank you. God bless you. I join Steve in recommending that every American read your book.

Monday, February 11, 2013

I received this wonderful letter from the daughter of Samuel W. Ward who ran the Secret Service firing range.

Dear Mr. Blaine,

My name is Wendy Ward Eaton and I am compelled to write to you as I read your book, The Kennedy Detail. I have barely been able to put it down since I started it! It brings back so many memories of my childhood and days spent in Washington, DC.

My father, Samuel W. Ward, Chief Gunner's Mate, was in the Coast Guard and we were stationed in Washington from 1956-1959. He worked in the "pistol range" in the basement of the treasury building. I have fond memories of visiting him at work and was always comfortable being around the firearms and ammunition. When friends would ask me what my Dad did, I would tell them "he teaches secret service agents how to shoot"! I have quite a few pictures of him in the range, and have attached one for you to see ( he is sitting in the picture). There is no identification as to who the other man is. I have also attached a newspaper clipping that I have. I do know that he loved his job there and was very well respected. I have an autograph book that he kept during that time which has signatures from people who visited or who came for training from all over the world!

Dad passed away in 1982, so I cherish all of those wonderful memories that I have of him. I would be very anxious to hear if you have any recollection or memory of him, or would know of anyone else who would.

Congratulations to you on the success of your book and I will look forward to the movie coming out this year based on your book.You can bet I'll be in the front row!

Kind regards,

Wendy Ward EatonStewartstown, PA 17363

These photos are copyrighted and the property of Wendy Ward Eaton. May not be used without permission.

Friday, February 8, 2013

President John F. Kennedy meets with Ambassador to the United States from India, Braj Kumar Nehru, in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. White House Secret Service Agent, Gerald “Jerry” Blaine, stands in background at right.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

I began my research (1980) into the Assassination after the HSCA released its’ findings around 1979 I think it was. My Assassination library is extensive. By 1980 I had been in Law Enforcement 4 years. I had an understanding of how investigations come together, how the physical evidence relates to the case, what is needed to complete an investigation and most of all the ability to separate true needed facts from what is interesting, but not really relevant (the last 7 words of the previous sentence resound through many books and theories perpetrated by dozens as “investigation” into the Assassination). Little did I know then that my research (which included a visit in 1994 to Dealey Plaza, The Book Depository, Oak Cliff, North Beckley St, 10th & Patton and The Texas Theater) would continue, albeit at different levels, for the next 33 years.

Reading and research. Patience and time. I quickly found most written works focused on “what is interesting, but not really relevant”. The……what…… maybe a dozen or so different theories of what happened, who was involved, i.e. bums from a train car, sniper in the sewer, grassy knoll fence, overpass, Dal-Tex Bldg., Mafia, Agent Greer, Agent Hickey…etc. It seemed absolutely ridiculous that anyone could lend credibility to all these many “theories”.

Think about it……doesn't it seem profoundly ridiculous that every one of these dozen or so final analyses conducted by intelligent people (Note: most had no skill in legal investigations) have a different final word on what happened.

There is but only one conclusion that is fact based if you do your own thorough, unbiased research. Researching this case will not be easy, it cannot be done in a few days. There is much material to sift through, much of it is interesting, but not really relevant. You must have the ability to determine what is needed in an investigation of this nature. Lacking that ability can easily take one off into an interesting, but not really relevant vein. There are many “veins” in this case. There is but one fact based conclusion to this homicide investigation. The Dallas Police apprehended the right person.

During the course of my investigation/research the one thing that soon occurred to me was the lack of any in depth public book/story involving the Secret Service Agents from that day. From a Law Enforcement perspective, I always thought I would like to have seen an in depth account of what they saw and experienced during that time. Sure there are some statements and investigative/research blurbs in The Warren report, Manchester's book, Bishops book, Roberts book and a few others. One tv interview with Clint Hill in 1975. All in all I wanted more, I knew there had to be more. I had my own ideas as to why there wasn’t more.

When I first heard about The Kennedy Detail I was personally excited and gratified that this was finally done. However honestly, I did not know much about Jerry Blaine. I quickly found that Clint Hill was involved and of course, I knew who he was. I went out, bought the book and began reading what I hoped would be the piece of research that I always desired to know. A piece of research that I felt was crucially needed. I finished the Book in four days. When I finished the Book, I knew exactly who Jerry Blaine was.

There are but a few historically significant books on the subject of the Assassination and this one is at the top of the list. This Book is a deeply personal experience from the men who lived it. They were there. I believe to really “get it”…..that is to say completely understand the meaning of this book number one you have to believe in the integrity of the writer and those involved. The integrity of these men, all the Agents, is above reproach! These clearly were dedicated, honorable men that swore to an oath and upheld it. We must understand that this oath meant something; it meant honor, integrity, honesty, sacrifice and respect for the position. This Book is a true and factual account. When this is blended with the true facts of this case the reader comes away with the feeling that the circle is complete. History is now complete and an accurate historical aspect is clearly and honestly laid out.

I have read other reviews on this forum, I disagree with a few. I will not resort to name calling and cursing. This is a public forum. To resort to this level of expression is quite disrespectful and frankly uncalled for and extremely unprofessional…especially for self proclaimed experts and writers. It serves to diminish and trivialize whatever it is you are trying to say. This form of expression along with its’ twisted interpretations of history become baseless, having succumbed to the interesting but not really relevant issue. The fact that President Kennedy used the Lincoln bubble top on many prior occasions DOES NOT prove anything with regard to Tampa and Dallas. The fact that President Kennedy on many prior occasions allowed Agents to ride on or run beside the Presidential Limousine DOES NOT prove anything with regard to Tampa and Dallas. The Presidents’ mindset along with his assistants was different for Tampa and Dallas. He especially wanted to be seen and wanted Mrs. Kennedy (in Dallas) to be seen. His chief assistant O’Donnell made the call on the morning of the 22nd to leave the bubble top off because he knew that is what the President wanted. This information is not coming from me, those who wish to research this topic will find it in several factual sources. The Agents were requested to stay off the rear of the Presidential Limousine, this IS what the President wanted and he wanted it especially for this motorcade on the 22nd.

Pure fate took its’ course that day. The rain stopped and the skies cleared. The rain stopped and the skies cleared!!!

Pure fate took its course that day. Just the way many American tragedies had before and after the 22nd. Every historical American tragedy can be armchair quarterbacked. Realistically, in life things just happen. The most brilliant minds in America could not prevent pure fate from taking its course in history: the 3 astronauts in 67…….the Space Shuttle disasters in 86 and ’03. But for pure luck we did not lose President Reagan at the hands of Hinckley. Imagine the books and finger pointing, and the conspiracy theories that would have arisen had He died that day. But for pure luck, we did not lose President Ford at the hands of a gun wielding Fromme. The unpredictable nature of the human being will surely be the source for American tragedies yet to come. They too will not be prevented.

More importantly the American public must accept the fact that individuals, acting alone, the likes of Adam Lanza, James Holmes, Jared Lee Loughner (political assailant), John Hinckley (Reagan assailant), James Earl Ray and Lee Harvey Oswald will always be among us.

Every American owes a deep sense of gratitude to Jerry Blaine, Clint Hill and all the Secret Service Agents that contributed to this historically significant book, they should be respected and admired.

Pure fate reared its head that day in November and gave all of us another American tragedy that CANNOT be blamed on anyone other than Lee Harvey Oswald.

This Book gets 5 Stars+, you better believe it; Thank you Jerry, Clint and Lisa for this needed chapter of American History

Thursday, January 24, 2013

On January 12, 2013, Joyce and I flew to Washington DC to participate in a documentary of President Kennedy's visit to Germany in June, 1963. The documentary focused specifically on his visit to Berlin. The surviving agents who participated in the trip are Winston Lawson, who conducted the advance for the presidents eight hour visit to the city, Sam Sulliman and myself. Ron Pontius was able to go into the city, though he was working the night shift. Ron was the photographer and historian on the visit. On the Germany trip was also Walt Coughlin and Ken Weisman.The trip to Berlin was undoubtedly the highlight of President Kennedy's administration. Immediately after the Inauguration was the failed "Bay of Pigs" invasion by Cuban insurgents. The invasion, planned during the Eisenhower administration, was executed by President Kennedy, with a couple of modifications, which included changing the landing spot from an area where insurgents could rapidly move into the coverage of jungle, and with drawing air support for the invasion. These changes were an effort to hide the United States participation. The new landing location was near a road to Havana and the invasion force was met with Cuban troops and aircraft which sunk supply ships. The result was a disastrous defeat of the insurgents. Those who survived were taken prisoner. The prisoners were later ransomed with medical and food supplies to Cuba paid by the United States.

The invasion started the president on the wrong foot in the Cold War with The Soviet Union and their leader Nikita Khrushchev. The Bay of Pigs fiasco was perceived by Khrushchev as a weakness in the new president of the United States . In a meeting held in Vienna, President Kennedy and Khrushchev, the soviet Premier harassed an d threatened the president in a harsh and belligerent manner. President Kennedy left Vienna unnerved., knowing the Premier would challenge him relentlessly.

Berlin became the focus point of the cold war.

In August of 1961, a wall was built between East and West Berlin that would separate families. The wall was built by the East Germans to keep the East German citizens from escaping to the west. Approximately four million East Germans made the escape prior to the wall going up. After the wall went up only 200 escaped, but hundreds were also killed trying to flee to the west. Along with the wall, there were challenges to the West's access to Berlin. This started right after WWII where the Western Allies had to supply food and medical supplies.

The allies did not offer a challenge to the wall, which became know as the "Berlin Wall". The opinion was that at least there would not be a war.if the move was to erect a barrier. This attitude prevailed in France, Britain and the US.

President Kennedy had to rebuild relations with Latin and South America after the Bay of Pigs, in order to ensure the nations that the United States would support and stand by them. In the meantime challenges increased in Indochina (Vietnam) and in Berlin.

In 1962 the Soviet Union attempted to install Nuclear warhead missiles in Cuba, which would allow them to reach every city in the United States. The construction of the launch sites were filmed by U-2 aircraft. Premier Khrushchev was challenging President Kennedy to the Ultimate test. This resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy stood up to the challenge and forced Premier to back down and withdraw the missiles.

With a new found confidence, President Kennedy ultimately negotiated a Nuclear arms treaty and could focus on his campaign promises related to Civil rights and other issues.

But first he had to visit Germany --- especially Berlin.

He arrived in Berlin on June 26, 1963 President Kennedy flew into the French Zone of Berlin, spending 8 hours in the city. Sam Sulliman and I worked the follow-up car. We covered about thirty miles through Berlin. The streets were lined with people fifteen to 20 deep, screaming, yelling, and cheering. Many of the Berliners tried to reach the. limousine, the one that President Kennedy rode in when he was murdered in Dallas five months later. Many reached the limousine, but the German Motorcycle team, called the White Mice, held the crowds at bay.

Berlin and The White Mice

We ended up at the at the government square in Berlin where President Kennedy would give his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speach. The sight was overwhelming. Over a half million people were cheering, crying and enthralled with President Kennedy --- the man who they now felt could reunite their nation. It took thirty minutes to quiet the crowd. I had never seen anything like this. Nor had President Kennedy.

Berlin - June 1963

The President abandoned his original speech and improvised a much more aggressive speech than he had first planned on giving. The speech shocked Willie Brandt, the Berlin Mayor who was concerned what the Soviet response would be. After the speech McGeorge Bundy , the presidents security advisor also told him that he might have overdone it. President Kennedy just grinned. The President had stolen the hearts of all Berliners. All he had to do was say tear down that wall and there would have been a million people with sledge hammers and picks..

Ironically Joyce and I were in Berlin in November 1989 when the wall went down. It too was an event that overwhelmed both of us.

The production crew had fifteen hours of archive video tape of President Kennedy's visit which Joyce and I viewed during our visit. The documentary is being produced by ARD German Television. Ms. Christine Rutten was the narrator.

Ironically, the son of Nikita Khrushchev was also interviewed while we were in Washington DC.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The
Kennedy Detail is pleased to welcome Jennifer Roth on board as EP/UMP.
The 35 titles in her career include the Academy Award-winning BLACK
SWAN, World’s Greatest Dad, The Wrestler and The Crow. Roth’s history
includes projects as Executive Producer, Unit Production Manager and
Production Coordinator.

Lilly Kilvert adds her talent to the Kennedy Detail as Production Designer.
She was nominated for Academy Awards for both Legends of the Fall and
The Last Samurai. Kilvert is especially important to The Kennedy Detail
for her previous experience with In the Line of Fire and The American
President.

We are happy to be working with Liza Maddrey once again as an Associate Producer on The Kennedy Detail Feature Film!An archival researcher and producer of news / documentary programming
for the Discovery networks, National Geographic, History, American
Public Media and Bloomberg TV. In 2009, she was one of the three
producers who crafted the Emmy-nominated documentary “The Lost JFK
Tapes: The Assassination,” which was constructed entirely of local
Dallas news footage from the weekend of November 22, 1963. In 2010, she
co-produced the Emmy-nominated documentary “The Kennedy Detail,” based
on the book by retired Secret Service Agent Gerald Blaine and co-author
Lisa McCubbin.

We’re also thrilled to have Richard Graves join The
Kennedy Detail Feature Film as First Assistant Director. He brings his
invaluable experience on The Amazing Spider-Man, A Single Man, 500
Days of Summer, The Wrestler and many more to our project. Welcome
aboard Richard!

Monday, January 7, 2013

New details are emerging on “The Kennedy Detail” — the book-inspired, big-screen “answer to” Oliver Stone’s conspiracy-laden 1991 film “JFK.” Among the more intriguing, at least for local movie-goers: It is scheduled to start shooting in March in New Orleans, the same city in which Stone shot his film some 22 years ago.

That’s according to a news release sent out this morning (Jan. 7) by producers for the film, which is expected in theaters this fall, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. “The Kennedy Detail” will be directed and co-written by Stephen Gyllenhaal (“Paris Trout”), the father of sibling actors Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal.

The independent drama — a co-production of Atchity Entertainment International and Ramos & Sparks Group — will tell the story of John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination from the point of view of members of his Secret Service detail. The film’s producers, in a news release last spring announcing the film, said it is intended to be an answer to Stone’s “fanciful ‘JFK.’”

“JFK and his story will be brought to life with cutting-edge CGI and enhanced historical footage, allowing the actors to ‘interact’ with the ‘real’ 35th president,” Gyllenhaal said in the release. “The actors will also have direct access to (Secret Service) agents, now in their 80s, three of whom were within a few feet of the assassination.” ‘JFK and his story will be brought to life with cutting-edge CGI … allowing the actors to ‘interact’ with (him)” — director Stephen Gyllenhaal

Principal casting on the film is set to begin this week.

“The Kennedy Detail” is based on the New York Times bestseller of the same name written by former Secret Service agent Gerald Blaine — a former member of Kennedy’s security detail — with journalist Lisa McCubbin. The book has already spawned a Discovery Channel documentary, also called “The Kennedy Detail,” which was narrated by Martin Sheen and nominated in 2011 for a News and Documentary Emmy in the long-form historical programming category.

In addition, Blaine and McCubbin will serve as associate producers, and former agent Clint Hill — the agent seen climbing onto the back of Kennedy’s limousine following the shooting — is serving as a special adviser.

Order The Paperback Edition

Order the Audible Audio Edition

Enhanced Edition Available Now!

BOOK TRAILER

WORTHY OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE

Kennedy - Nixon Debate

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first Kennedy/Nixon debate, the JFK Library has partnered with YouTube.com to post the full, unabridged footage of the debate.
Click here to watch

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

GERALD BLAINE had the privilege of serving three U.S. presidents as a Special Agent of the Secret Service on the White House detail. After his resignation following John F. Kennedy’s assassination, he embarked on a career path as an expert in high-level corporate security. He retired in 2003 and now lives in Colorado with his wife of more than fifty years.

LISA McCUBBIN is an award winning journalist who has worked for three major television news networks. In the aftermath of the attacks on 9/11, McCubbin provided compelling reports as a foreign correspondent in Saudi Arabia. She currently splits her time between the Middle East and Colorado.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For more information or to have Jerry Blaine speak at your organization’s event! For pricing and availability, please contact Literary and Motion Picture Manager, Ken Atchity.